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CD reviews
"Utopia - La fantaisie des madrigaux de la Renaissance tardive" (The fantasy of late Renaissance madrigals)
La Main Harmonique
Dir: Frédéric Bétous
rec: Nov 2020, Flamarens, Château
Ligia Digital - 0202355-21 (© 2022) (50'25")
Liner-notes: E/F; lyrics - translations: E/F
Cover & track-list
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Girolamo CONVERSI (?-1575):
Zefiro torna [1];
Bastien DAVID (*1990):
Umbilicus rupestris*;
Carlo GESUALDO da Venosa (1566-1613):
S'io non miro [6];
Se la mia morte brami [7];
Giovanni Girolamo KAPSPERGER (1580-1611):
Toccata VI [8];
Luca MARENZIO (1553-1599):
Così nel mio parlar [4];
Scendi dal paradisio [2];
Solo e pensoso [4];
Domenico MAZZOCCHI (1592-1665):
Ahi chi m'aita [9];
Pomponio NENNA (1556-1622):
L'amoroso veleno [5];
Michelangelo ROSSI (1602-1656):
Ciechi desir;
Moribondo mio pianto [10];
Giaches DE WERT (1535-1596):
Ah dolente partita [3]
Sources:
[1] Girolamo Conversi, Il primo libro de madrigali a sei voci, 15842);
[2] Luca Marenzio, Il quarto libro de madrigali a 5 voci, 1584;
[3] Giaches de Wert, L'undecimo libro de madrigali a 5 voci, 1595;
[4] Luca Marenzio, Il nono libro de madrigali a 5 voci, 1599;
[5] Pomponio Nenna, Il settimo libro de madrigali a 5 voci, 1608;
Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa, [6] Madrigali a cinque voci. Libro quinto, 1611;
[7] Madrigali a cinque voci. Libro sesto, 1611;
[8] Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger, Libro I d'intavolatura di lauto, 1611;
[9] Domenico Mazzocchi, Partitura de' Madrigali a cinque voci, e d'altri varij Concerti, 1638;
[10] Michelangelo Rossi, Il secondo libro di madrigali a 5 voci, bef. 1650
Nadia Lavoyer, Amandin Trenc, soprano;
Frédéric Bétous, alto;
Guillaume Gutiérrez, Loïc Paulin, tenor;
Marc Busnel, bass;
Ulrik Gaston Larsen, archlute
(*) Nadia Lavoyer, soprano;
Judith Derouin, mezzo-soprano;
Frédéric Bétous, countertenor;
Laurent David, Loïc Paulin, tenor;
Marc Busnel, baritone
We are used to divide music history in clearly defined periods: Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, the classical period, the romantic era. However, there are no watersheds between them. Some compositions bear the traces of a past stylistic period, and the disc under review here sheds light on the continuity between the renaissance and baroque periods. The 'new style' that was born around 1600 did not mark an end to some of the features of the renaissance period. The latter was dominated by polyphony, and although representatives of the stile nuovo embraced its features, such as the use of a basso continuo and the application of harmony in the interest of text expression, many of them continued to write polyphonic pieces. In the end, composers aimed at expressing human emotions, and they used whatever means they had at their disposal to achieve that. The theorist Giovanni Battista Doni (1595-1646) stated: "By expressive style some people mean that which best expresses the meaning of human words and affections. By this they do not mean any particular rule that a kind of melody should follow. It is judged more by the quality and perfection of its singing than by whether it belongs to a particular genre (as would be the case with the madrigal style and recitative), for any kind of music (I mean those that are perfect, that contain significant words) that does not have expressive elements in it must be judged defective."
The disc of the ensemble La Main Harmonique focuses on demonstrating the continuity of the late Renaissance and the early Baroque. On the one hand the programme includes pieces by three of the late representatives of the 16th century polyphonic madrigal: Luca Marenzio, Giaches de Wert and Carlo Gesualdo. They were mainly known for their madrigals, which show a strong connection between text and music. In that respect especially the former two were trailblazers of the new style that manifested itself around 1600. In order to achieve that they made use of chromaticism and dissonances, a declamatory treatment of the text as well as contrasts in tempo and rhythm. Gesualdo was the youngest of the three, and when he published his last two books of madrigals, the new style was already spreading across Italy, and soon across the rest of Europe. However, he stuck to the traditional style of the 16th century, but his madrigals impressively show what can be achieved with strictly polyphonic means. To this group also belongs Girolamo Conversi, a composer who has remained largely unknown. He was influenced by Marenzio; his setting of the well-known text Zefiro torna is taken from his only extant madrigal collection.
The most interesting part of the programme consists of the madrigals by Pomponio Nenna, Domenico Mazzocchi and Michelangelo Rossi. One could call Nenna a representative of the transition from the old to the new style. He mainly followed in Gesualdo's footsteps; his last book of madrigals was published in 1618, and they are in the style of the past, as all the madrigals are scored for five voices a capella, just like those of Gesualdo. It was only in his responsories for Holy Week of 1622 that he added a basso continuo part. Mazzochi and Rossi, on the other hand, are representatives of the new style. Rossi wrote several operas, but has especially become known for his keyboard works. He also left some madrigals, mostly on texts by Guarini, and scored for five voices a capella. The difference with madrigals of previous generations is that his madrigals include two tenor rather than two soprano parts. Moribondo mio pianti opens with descending chromatic figures, illustrating the text: "My tears that fade away (...)". Mazzocchi has become especially known for his sacred concertos for voices and basso continuo, some with additional instruments. He also composed madrigals, some of which with instruments, but some with the indication that they should be performed a capella.
The purpose of this disc is an interesting one, and the exploration of the madrigal repertoire from the first part of the 17th century is especially important. A few years ago Johannes Keller recorded madrigals by Rossi with his Weser-Renaissance BremenEnsemble Domus Artis. It is a matter of good luck that his two madrigals included here are not part of that recording. I am not aware of any recording of Mazzocchi's madrigals, and Nenna definitely deserves more attention; he is overshadowed by Gesualdo, whose madrigals are recorded time and again. Previously I heard La Main Harmonique in Gesualdo's Sacrae Cantiones, a recording which I rated highly. The singing here is excellent as well, and the idiosyncracies of the various comes off perfectly. Composers aimed at an expression of human emotions, and is impressively realized here.
The disc includes a contemporary piece by Bastien David. In the booklet, Frédéric Bétous writes: "We can understand the craze during the Renaissance for this new form,
which unfortunately disappeared prematurely. In our album, this music finds an echoing extension in Bastien David's Umbilicus rupestris. Here, however, the text disappears, but the music is carried by the breath of the singers and the timbre of the voices is mixed with small instruments. It is no longer a question of human passions and conditional love, but of the abundance of a warm and open nature. As with the madrigal, this is also poetry in music." I have a different understanding of poetry. For me, the inclusion of this piece is utter nonsense, and a serious blot on an otherwise excellent production. As a duration of a little over 50 minutes is not very generous anyway, the inclusion of this piece, lasting almost nine minutes, would withhold me from purchasing this disc. That is a shame.
On a techncal note: in the booklet the English translation of Michelangelo Rossi's Ciechi desir is the same as that of Marenzio's Solo e pensoso. I have used Google Translate for an English translation of the French version:
"Blind desires, futile and illusory designs, / Ice fires and incandescent snows, / prompt and persistent oblivion, / ethereal memory, tormented pleasure, exquisite pains, / feigned delights that bring me / only a real anguish, / overwhelming and oppressive, / A long and certain war, an ephemeral peace / Which in an instant gives me back my soul and steals it from me, / Feigned laughter and genuine disdain, uncertain hope / and inescapable fear, / ceasingly filling the eyes with tears, / misleading the heart by its proven evil, / Which certainly strives to languish more and more, / Are the express cause of my pain."
Johan van Veen (© 2024)
Relevant links:
La Main Harmonique